Television documentary

Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.

• A documentary television series, sometimes called a docuseries, is a television series that is presented in a number of episodes.
• A documentary television film is a documentary film made specially for television stations or for specialty documentary channels, or in case of political and historical documentary subjects in news channels, without the intention of showing it in movie theaters. This film is include in television movies and distinguished with theatrical feature films. Another good example of television documentaries are the travel documentaries that are featured in specialized geographical or tourism television channels like the National Geographic Channel. The films might end up showing though in film societies or in theaters that specialize in showing documentaries. However, in rare occasions, the television documentaries become so popular that they are launched for wider release in movie theaters.

History of television documentary and production techniques

Televised documentary finds its roots in film, photojournalism, and radio. Traditionally, much of television documentary production was done using 16mm film cameras with quarter inch tape recorders providing sync sound. The small and agile nature of 16mm film crews made them ideal for shooting documentaries in hostile environments as events were unfolding. Before portable video recorders became common place in the industry, 16mm film cameras were the only method of production that did not require significant technological infrastructure. Using just an Arriflex or Eclair 16mm camera, a Nagra tape recorder, and a basic lighting rig these crews created some of the most significant documentaries in produced in Britain. This way of working continued until the late 1980s when portable video recorders started to be implemented in documentary production.

Example channels

• Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
• Animal Planet
• Discovery Channel
• DOC: The Documentary Channel
• Docu TVE
• Documentary (TV channel)
• History
• National Geographic
• Science
• WORLD Channel

See also

• Walter Goodman (TV Critic)

External links

• A 16mm documentary crew prepare to shoot a basic interview sequence
• A 16mm documentary cameraman discusses the cameras used for documentary, and drama, production
• A 16mm lighting technician discusses their equipment and the drawbacks of lighting for documentary production in domestic settings